Dramatically falling costs and improvements in efficiency are driving increased sales of light emitting diode (LED) lamps for street lighting. Costs have fallen as much as 50% over the past two years and are expected to continue falling. By 2015, LEDs will become the second-leading type of lamp for street lights in terms of sales, behind only high pressure sodium lamps, according to a new report from Pike Research, a part of Navigant’s Energy Practice. By 2020, the study concludes, LED lamps for street lights will generate more than $2 billion in annual revenue.

“Broader investments in smart city infrastructure by municipal governments will boost smart street lighting projects, as the two go hand in hand,” says research analyst Jesse Foote. “Smart street lighting systems can provide a backbone for other smart city applications, and conversely, a city investing in networking capabilities for smart city applications should also be looking to include better management of street lighting.”

Nearly all smart street lighting projects are still in a pilot phase at the moment, according to the report. The adoption of LED street lights and networked control systems is seriously hindered by the ownership models and tariff structures in place across the United States and in some European and Asian locations as well. If utility companies own street lighting systems and charge a fixed tariff per light to municipalities, then towns have little financial incentive to pay for upgrading their lights. However, the potential for significant energy savings, reduced emissions and improved quality of service, combined with falling LED prices, means that more and more cities will find this an attractive proposition over time.

The report, Smart Street Lighting, analyzes the global market opportunity for lamp upgrades and networked lighting controls across five categories of public outdoor lighting: highways, roads, parking lots, city parks, and sports stadiums. The report provides a comprehensive assessment of the demand drivers, obstacles, policy factors, and technology issues associated with the growing market for street lighting controls. Key industry players are profiled in depth and worldwide revenue and capacity forecasts, segmented by lamp type and region, extend through 2020.

The way the world is lit up could be revolutionized by a new European-wide research project being led by the University of Dundee.

The 11.8 million Euros NEWLED project aims to develop a new generation of white light-emitting LED lights, which would be much more efficient than existing light bulbs.

It is estimated that efficient white-light LEDs, if successfully developed and widely implemented, could have a massive effect on reducing global energy consumption and C02 emissions.

"Common lightbulbs have a pretty low efficiency rating and even the best current white LEDs in use only have an overall efficiency of around 25%," said Professor Edik Rafailov, NEWLED project leader based in the School of Engineering, Physics and Mathematics at Dundee. "What we are aiming to develop is a significantly more efficient white LED, which would be around 50-60% efficient. If we can do that and it becomes widely adopted, then the effects on energy consumption would be enormous. It would also produce lighting over which much more control could be exercised in brightness and tone."

NEWLED brings together academic and industrial partners and is funded through the European Union’s FP7 program.

The effort to produce highly efficient white LEDs will see the project examine every stage of the LED fabrication process, from developing new knowledge on the control of semiconductor properties on a near-atomistic level to light mixing and heat management.

By examining the entire process, NEWLED aims to ensure that the new LEDs will be well adjusted to avoid compromising the achievements of the overall process and to ensure significant system and operating cost reduction.

AIXTRON SE today announced that, in the third quarter of 2012, long-term customer Formosa Epitaxy Inc. (FOREPI), Taiwan, placed a new order for multiple CRIUS II-L MOCVD production systems in a 69×2-inch configuration. All systems will be used for the manufacturing of ultra-high brightness (UHB) GaN-based blue and white LEDs.

AIXTRON’s local service team has started installing and commissioning the new systems in the fourth quarter of 2012 at FOREPI’s new state-of-the-art factory in the Pin-Jen industrial zone, Taiwan. Delivery will be completed in the second quarter of 2013. In May 2012, FOREPI had already purchased several CRIUS II-XL and AIX G5 HT reactors.

“This new order reflects our on-going satisfaction with AIXTRON’s products,” comments FOREPI’s chairman Dr. Frank Chien. “AIXTRON has proven itself as an excellent partner, providing superior customer care by responding to our requests and delivering the needed solutions. With short time-to-production, and highest performance and throughput, AIXTRON’s latest MOCVD generations meet the specific challenges of larger wafers and maximum chip yields.”

All CRIUS II-L systems will be delivered with AIXTRON’s new ARGUS Topside Temperature Control (TTC) system. The new method eliminates temperature variation within each run and run-to-run, enabling unmatched production yields.

“This latest multiple tool order reflects FOREPI’s growth as a top-tier LED chip manufacturer. We are pleased to support this prized customer with our latest technology. Besides reactor size and design, we believe that successful in-situ measurement and control offer the greatest optimization potential because they provide a direct impact on yields,” said Dr. Christian Geng, general manager of AIXTRON Taiwan.

GT Advanced Technologies and Soitec , today announced a development agreement and a licensing agreement allowing GT to develop, manufacture and commercialize a high-volume, multi-wafer HVPE system to produce high-quality GaN epi layers on substrates used in the LED and other growth industries such as power electronics. The higher growth rates and improved material properties made possible by the HVPE system are expected to significantly reduce process costs while boosting device performance compared with the traditional MOCVD process. Initial pre-payment of the licensing fees as outlined in the agreement is already underway, but further specific terms were not disclosed.

GT will develop, manufacture and commercialize the HVPE system incorporating Soitec Phoenix Labs’ unique and proprietary HVPE technology including its novel and advanced source delivery system that is expected to lower the costs of precursors delivered to the HVPE reactor. The HVPE system will enable the production of GaN template sapphire substrates at scale. The expected target date for the commercial availability of the HVPE system is the second half of 2014.

“We have been working for more than 6 years on GaN epi processes and have created this breakthrough HVPE technology critical in producing high-quality and low cost GaN layers on sapphire substrates,” said Chantal Arena, VP and general manager of Soitec Phoenix Labs. “The development and license agreements we are announcing today with GT is the ultimate validation of this work and builds on the agreement we announced last year with Silian to integrate a HVPE-based technology on their sapphire. This allows Soitec to structure its LED lighting offer around differentiated technologies and industrial partners that includes materials and equipment. Soitec Phoenix Labs deep know-how in epitaxy technologies and GaN materials will be a key factor to enable GT to bring a revolutionary HVPE system to the market.”

“GT has a successful track record of delivering innovative equipment that has changed industries such as solar PV and LED,” said Tom Gutierrez, GT’s president and CEO. “Our decision to enter into the agreements with Soitec is the result of our extensive search for the right partner with the right technology to complement our equipment business as we diversify into new, high-value technologies that broaden our reach and bring winning solutions to the market. Soitec Phoenix Labs brings a high level of expertise and technical experience in GaN process know-how. When commercially available, we believe the new HVPE system will be a key element to further reduce LED device costs and help propel the industry to greater levels of competitiveness and growth.”

Soitec is an international manufacturing company, generating and manufacturing semiconductor materials. Soitec’s products include substrates for microelectronics and concentrator photovoltaic systems (CPV). Soitec has manufacturing plants and R&D centers in France, Singapore, Germany, and the United States.

GT Advanced Technologies Inc. is a technology company with crystal growth equipment and solutions for the global solar, LED and electronics industries.

Soraa announced yesterday the next generation of its high external quantum efficiency GaN on GaN LEDs. As described in Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 223509, Soraa’s new LED outperforms the best-documented LED laboratory result by Nichia Chemical Co. at current densities of 100 A/cm² and beyond.

“The record breaking performance from our next generation of GaN on GaN LEDs is a credit to the extremely talented research and development team at Soraa, and a testament to the vision of our founder and GaN on GaN pioneer, Dr. Shuji Nakamura,” said Mike Krames, CTO of Soraa. “But what’s amazing is that we have just scratched the surface in terms of performance gains from our GaN on GaN LED technology.”

Soraa’s GaN on GaN LEDs handle significantly more current and emit ten times more light per unit area of LED wafer material than conventional LEDs made by depositing GaN layers on cheaper foreign substrates like sapphire, silicon carbide or silicon. The company’s GaN on GaN technology leverages the advantages of the native substrate, including over a thousand times lower crystal defect densities that allow reliable operation at very high current densities (the same principle that enabled Blu-ray laser diodes). In addition to superior crystal quality, the native substrate’s optical transparency and high electrical and thermal conductivity enable a very robust, simple LED design that delivers maximum performance. Another advantage of the GaN on GaN approach is that it enables considerable flexibility in the choice of crystal growth plane.

 “We firmly believe that GaN on GaN is the future for LEDs and we’ve developed a comprehensive intellectual property program and patent portfolio covering the technology to maintain our leadership position.” added Krames.

Soraa leveraged the advantages of its first generation GaN on GaN LEDs by introducing in 2012 the true full-visible-spectrum LED MR16 lamps—a superior alternative to 50-Watt halogen MR16 lamps. Soraa’s LED MR16 lamps have a CRI of 95 and R9 of 95 (higher than most halogen lamps) and compared to halogen lamps, produce no UV or IR; last up to 10 times as long; use 75 percent less energy; run cooler; produce a much more consistent and efficient beam; and are compatible with existing lamp fixtures and lighting infrastructure.